Serbia

6 Nov 201112 Feb 2019 PP-Admin 2620 Views 2 min read

The journey From Romania to Belgrade was frankly a bit of a slog. 50 km / h was the maximum average speed I managed to achieve. The problem this time was not getting the Editourmobil over the mountains, but the unwelcome arrival of a real pea-souper, a thick blanket of fog which greatly impeded progress. Eventually, brilliant sunshine re-appeared and things got better. I had two appointments today in Belgrade, the first being with the market leader in carbonated water, Knjaz Milos, and later Borverk Eurotrade, a manufacturer of preforms. Thanks to the fog, I arrived half an hour late for my appointment. I saw immediately that there were 10 filling lines to get round. All this took time, of course, so I was forced to put back my meeting with Borverk by an hour. When I arrived at their offices Predrag Radovancevic, Director at Borverk, greeted me affably, remarking that “He was pleased that I had managed to make it on time“. This came as a bit of a surprise but I had neglected to take into account that they change the clocks in Turkey from summer to winter time. Much too complex for me So I arrived half an hour too early rather than too late for my appointment with Knjaz Milos. Well, these things are sent to try us

When I was planning my visits to Belgrade all the companies seemed to be located in the city centre, so I should have been able to manage 4 visits per day, but I had my doubts. And sure enough, when I got there, I discovered that all the manufacturing sites lay outside the city, only the HQs were in the centre. Fortunately the motorway in Belgrade is a good one, so there should be no problem in making my appointments on time.

My meeting at Fruvita in Lunjevac is at 8 in the morning. Had I not put the clock back, I would have had the great pleasure of meeting the night shift coming off duty at 7 o’clock. Now that I have sorted out the time, I can rest easy in my bed.